《Star Wars Episode IX: The Descendant of Evil (Novella #1) ✓》Chapter 11: The Moceka Graveyard

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Considering all the terrible things happening to her at the moment, Rey had a relatively pleasant dream. She dreamt she was back on Supher with her friends and exploring the island of No'Ela.

Finn grabbed Rey's hand and pulled her into the lagoon. He splashed her with water.

Poe and Rose sat in lounge chairs and made small sandcastles at their feet, whereas Chewie, R2, and BB-8 playfully chased one another.

Rey felt the planet's warmth on her skin and tasted the salt water on her lips. The dream was perfect. She never wanted it to end, but it had to eventually.

Bright light shone on her face, but it did not belong to Supher's light in the dream. It leaped her back into consciousness.

Shuffling, the young woman opened her eyes. She rested on a bed in a small room in a hut. Its stone walls provided warmth and comfort from Phonolukamy's cold environment. Rey's cape hung from a stone jutting out from the wall next to her. Momentarily, the bright light blinded her. Then again, she was not yet fully awake. She sat up and swung her legs over the bed's side. Aside from a small desk across from her, the only thing in the miniature room was the bed. There wasn't even a window.

Bewildered, Rey studied her surroundings. She tried to figure out where she was. She did not remember blowing up a wrecked Star Destroyer with an insane amount of Dark side energy. Her own power made her drunk. The last thing she remembered was putting on the cape. Her eyes rolled down to her right arm, and she saw that a new cloth bound the Beacerika's wound. She then glanced at her cape and stood from the bed. She approached it and pulled it off the stone. Rey wrapped it around her shoulders. She noticed hieroglyphics on the wall. A huge mass of them surrounded the area where the cape used to be.

Curious, Rey lifted her hand and pressed it up against one set of hieroglyphics. She tried to read them, but she did not recognize the alien language they were in. The hieroglyphics continued up the whole length of the wall. Rey took a step back from it so she could get a better look at them. With her arms out to her sides, she tilted back her head and studied them thoroughly.

Only a few minutes later, she heard a wise, female voice behind her. "Oh, you're finally awake."

Gasping, the girl jumped ten feet in the air and whirled around.

A beautiful, alien woman stood in the room's doorway, carrying a tray of food and water in her hands. Her skin was blue, her eyes cyan, and she had black hair with streaks of green and purple in it. A mark that looked very similar to the hieroglyphics went up the length of her upper left arm. Just at the sight of her, Rey knew she was a native of Phonolukamy. Lukaemians usually had blue skin and eyes.

The woman set the tray of food and water down on the desk across from the bed Rey woke up in. "When I found you," she explained in her mystical voice, "you were unconscious and your skin pale. Poor thing. You've been through a lot, haven't you?"

"Who are you?" Rey tried to find the confidence in her voice, but it was difficult.

She never received an answer because the woman spat the question right back at her. "I think the better question is... Who are you?"

Rey felt great sadness in her heart. She remembered what Kylo Ren told her in Snoke's throne room. "I'm nobody," she replied.

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"Nobody? What an unusual name. Well, Nobody, what are you doing here on Phonolukamy?"

"I don't know." And she didn't. Rey could not remember why she came to Phonolukamy in the first place. It had something to do with Kylo Ren, but what? Her mind was a complete blur. It was as if the destruction of the Star Destroyer gave her amnesia.

"Poor thing." The woman upsettingly shook her head. She offered Rey the tray of food and water. "Are you hungry?"

"Not really." But that was far from the truth. Rey was starving. She lost her breakfast, lunch, and dinner in the wormhole, but she was too shy to say that out loud. She did not want to look weak in front of the wise alien. Taking a deep breath, she looked the woman in her cyan blue eyes and repeated her question from before. "Who are you?"

"I'm Aerolin, but everybody calls me Aero. What about you? I know your name is not 'Nobody'."

"It's Rey."

"Rey? That's it?"

Rey nodded. "That's it."

"I see. And how old are you, Rey?"

"Twenty."

"Twenty? You're just a child. I remember when I was your age. My life was not as stressful as yours."

"It wasn't?" Rey turned on a bewildered face. "But you live on Phonolukamy."

"True, but Phonolukamy is my home. What about you? Where are you from?"

"I came from Supher."

"I didn't ask where you came from. I asked where you're from."

Rey paused for a minute. "It's a dump, and I never want to return," she finally answered.

"That still does not answer my question."

"Fine. I'm from Jakku."

"Jakku, eh? You sure are far from home here on the Graveyard of the Galaxy."

"Graveyard of the Galaxy?" Rey thought she was on Phonolukamy.

Aero noticed her confused face. "The Graveyard of the Galaxy is Phonolukamy's nickname. You have a mysterious aura surrounding you, young Rey. I wondered how you were able to blow up that Star Destroyer."

"Wait, what?" Surprised, Rey dissected Aero's words. "I blew up that whole Star Destroyer?"

"Oh yes. It was quite the show–the craziest I've seen in three-hundred years."

"Three-hundred years?" Rey asked with widened eyes.

"Lukaemians age slower than your kind, but enough questions. Follow me, child. I want to show you something." Aero gently took Rey's hand. On their way out, she pointed at her upper right arm. "So, what did you do to your arm here?"

Rey glanced at her arm. Her voice trembled with her answer. "The Be-Beacerika? It attacked me on Supher."

"Did it attack you? Or was it testing you? You don't need to hide your talents, child. I know you're Force-sensitive and are struggling between the Light and Dark sides of the Force. What I saw with the Star Destroyer proved that to me."

"If that's the case, then where are you taking me?"

"You'll see. Where we're going... It will either help you or shatter you."

***

"I've never recalled that going through a wormhole is this strenuous!" Finn shouted in the cockpit of the Falcon. After conversing with Kylo Ren for a bit and learning that he, too, was looking for Rey, he and his friends decided to go ahead and head through the Phonolukamy Wormhole together. That was after Kylo said he was 99.9% sure she went there.

He led the way in his Silencer and kept a close eye out for the Beacerika.

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Lando Calrissian chuckled. "That's because you've never been through one before," he told Finn.

"And I thought light speed was bad," Rose spoke. She grabbed hold of Finn's arm and maintained a tight grip on it as the Falcon continued to bounce and tumble through the wormhole. "How do we know Kylo isn't leading us right into a trap?"

"He's not," said Temiri, who sat on Chewie's lap in the co-pilot seat. "You guys really need to learn to trust him a bit more."

"Trust him? Are you joking?" Finn snickered. "Do you know what he has done to the Resistance? He's destroyed us. He kidnapped Rey, and he murdered Han Solo. So, how can we trust him?"

"He saved us, did he not?" asked Poe. "If he didn't blow the Beacerika off the Falcon, most likely we would be in its stomach now."

"Still! He's a monster!" Shivering, Finn removed Rose's hand from his arm. He hopped off his seat and headed towards the Falcon's common room. "Excuse me. I'm going to go bury my head in a plate of sorrow." With those words, he stepped out of the cockpit.

Finn dug his satchel out from the sleeping quarters. He made sure nobody was watching before he set it down on his bed. He pulled out the ancient Jedi texts and flipped through each book. Finn started with the Aionomica, and then he moved on to the Karobela, Rammahgon, Reacher, and finally the Xiteska. He took mental notes as he examined each book. The main thing he was looking for was information about the Light side of the Force, the Dark side, and perhaps the Beacerika, if there was any. Just like his friends and Kylo Ren, he was very curious about what happened to Rey on Dark Side Island.

Finn started asking questions to himself, one of them being: "Did the Beacerika indeed attack her, or was it just trying to test her?" The questions he had about Rey were similar to the questions Aerolin asked. Finn loved Rey as a friend, but at times, he did fear her. The way she threw Lando back on Supher was not like her at all, and it made him uncomfortable. What if what Temiri said was true? What if it was Rey's destiny to turn to the Dark side? Just thinking about that caused Finn to shiver. He opened the Xiteska and stood it up in front of him.

However, the book flew from his hands when the Falcon suddenly jerked. "Whoa!" Finn yelled. He quickly returned to the cockpit and asked, "What happened?"

***

Aerolin gave Rey a stick to help her navigate Phonolukamy's rocks. Her hut was in a small village that was surrounded by farmland.

With the help of robots, droids, and astromechs, Lukaemians worked in the gardens.

"Wow," Rey spoke under her breath. So it was true. Lukaemians did combine farming with machinery. While she and Aerolin made their way through the village, the young Jedi chuckled when she saw how close the aliens and droids were.

A few children played tag while their parents worked.

Droids of all sorts rolled by Rey and delivered farming necessities to the gardens.

Considering that Phonolukamy was a dystopian planet, nobody looked sad. In fact, they looked proud. The sight of the Lukaemians enjoying life surprised Rey. She expected it to be a bit more depressing.

Only a few minutes later, she heard a droid behind her. An astromech collided into her legs and knocked her over. It had a square body with two, small hands, a long neck, and a petite, rectangular head.

Rey landed on her side on the dry soil. She cringed when she hit her arm.

The astromech continued forward, but it crashed into a bunch of barrels and baskets that held farming supplies. Though slightly stunned, the droid shook out its head and returned to Rey and Aerolin.

Aerolin lifted her hand and gave it a quick salute. "Hello, P4-3."

The droid responded by dipping its head in acknowledgement.

Aerolin came within reach of Rey and grabbed her arm. She pulled her to her feet. "You okay? Sorry, this little one is a teeny bit clumsy."

"I'm fine." Although, Rey's backside was a little sore. That droid literally came from out of nowhere.

P4-3 seemed to study her up and down.

"P4-3, this is Rey," Aero said. "And, Rey, this is P4-3. She's the head astromech of the Moceka Graveyard."

"Moceka Graveyard?"

"That's where we're going."

"What? Why?"

"You'll see when we get there. Let's go, P4-3." Aero gave P4-3's head a quick whack.

Right when she did, the droid's head spun, and she zoomed away from the two women. Once again, she came at Rey from behind and smashed into her legs. The second she did, her square body turned into a robotic basket. Rey landed on her backside in it. To prevent herself from falling, she held her arms out to her sides.

Aero hitched a ride on another P4 unit.

Once aboard, the astromechs escorted the two to the Moceka Graveyard. It sat at the base of a hill under the village. Just as the name suggested, it was a graveyard, but it wasn't a people graveyard. It was a ship graveyard. Under the light of the enormous moon, lines of ships stretched out a good twenty miles in an enormous field. Ships included Star Destroyers, TIE Fighters, X-Wings, A-Wings, and even a few Mon Calamari Cruisers. A huge battle must've taken place there at one point.

Rey could not believe what she was looking at. Now she knew why Phonolukamy's nickname was the "Graveyard of the Galaxy".

"Wow," she spoke from P4-3's basket. It was honestly an incredible sight.

The P4 units escorted Rey and Aero to the graveyard's starting line and dropped them off. Aero's astromech let her off professionally, but Rey's accidentally flipped the basket she sat in, causing her to fall on her face.

P4-3 beeped apologetic sounds at her, but Rey pushed her away.

"This is the Moceka Graveyard?" she asked Aero.

Aero nodded. "Yes. This is what you must travel through." She pulled Rey to her feet and wrapped her arm around her shoulders. With her free hand, she pointed to the mass of wrecked starships. "Travel to the heart of this graveyard. There, you shall find the ship you are looking for."

"How will I know it's the one?"

"It's up to you to make that decision, my dear. Now go." Aero removed her arm from Rey's shoulders and gave her a small push.

The young Jedi tripped over a few rocks, but she caught herself. She peered forward to the fog-covered graveyard and took a deep breath. Nervous, she glanced back to Aero and the P4 units.

Aero lifted her hand and waved her on. "You need to do this," she said.

While Rey did not understand why, she nodded hesitantly. Perhaps she would learn something about her past in the mysterious graveyard? There was only one way to find out. Inhaling one more time, she tightened her grip on her stick. With hair and cape waving in the wind, she stepped into the fog that would lead her to her destiny.

Rey walked with caution. She did not know what to expect. Since she didn't have her lightsaber with her, she did not feel safe. Something inside, though, told her she was meant to be at the Moceka Graveyard. She passed Star Destroyers, A-Wings, and X-Wings and studied them up and down. Dust blew in her face, but she protected herself with the hood of her cape.

She trekked for she did not know how long, but then she stumbled upon a Mon Calamari Cruiser. It sat right next to a Star Destroyer. Both ships' noses were buried in the ground, and their tails stabbed the dystopian atmosphere. Cracks surrounded them, so Rey was careful when she went to get a better look. She considered her thoughts, like what Aero told her to do, and headed for the Star Destroyer... not the Cruiser. No doubt about it, the two ships were the ones she was looking for.

The ground shook under her feet, but Rey carried on with her journey. Eventually, she made it to the Destroyer and tilted back her head. She studied the length of its body. After some intense thinking, she dropped her stick and hopped onto the ship's face. Rey started to climb it.

She climbed just like a monkey. She ignored the pain in her arm because she was so curious. The closer she approached the ship's engines, the foggier it became. Rey slipped only once, but she caught herself at the last second. Smiling nervously, she kept on climbing.

Down below, somebody emerged from the fog and watched her. Aerolin. With her were the two P4 units. Interested, the alien woman lifted her hand and grabbed hold of her chin. "How interesting," she told herself.

The climb was long and strenuous, but it felt right. When Rey reached the Star Destroyer's engines, she lugged herself onto the platform. Up there, the fog cleared. Rey saw the rest of the ships in the Moceka Graveyard, as well as an ocean in the distance. She could tell the ocean was rough. It may have been because the moon was so close to the planet's surface. Either that or the gravity from the Phonolukamy Wormhole affected it. Rey did not know which was which. All she knew was that she stood on the tail of a Star Destroyer. She took a step closer to the edge of it, to get a better look at the ocean, but right when she did, the ground under her feet gave way. A hole opened under her.

Rey fell, fell, and fell, and then she landed in a dark tunnel. She tried to grab something, but there was nothing for her to seize. She let herself slide. It felt like forever until she finally reached the end of the tunnel. Another hole opened in front of her and chucked her into a dark room. Rey's cape flew over her head. As quick as a flash, she pulled it back over and let it flop down behind her. She jumped to her feet and took deep breaths. Besides just a few old consoles and chairs, there was nothing in the darkness.

Rey heard something in front of her. Laughter. Evil laughter. She narrowed her eyebrows and glanced in the direction where it came from. She shook with she didn't know was either panic or excitement when a hooded figure sitting in a throne appeared in front of her. His wrinkled hands tightly clutched the chair's arms.

In a cracked voice, he spoke just two words: "Welcome, Rey."

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